


Paper and Stone

by abscission



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Gen, natsume week 2k17, prompt: ten years later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 09:24:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10941591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abscission/pseuds/abscission
Summary: Time washes and wastes, but promises last.





	Paper and Stone

There’s a new arrival in the mountain—a flaming red fox, of the kind the world rarely sees. Her tails billow and blur, her fur flashes and burns. Her golden eyes shine with the power she’s accumulated over the years of training, and she looms over the trees, breath steaming from her snout.

Higitsune lifts her head to sniff the unfamiliar scents in the air, and one in particular stands out, brimming with power. She turns towards the human settlement. There’s another beast like her there, older but no more powerful, a wolf-god.

He’s the strongest she’s come across for decades, and if she wants the mountain hegemony, he’s the closest to authority she’s going to get. So with a whisker, she shrinks, lands on her black-tipped feet, and trots off into human settlement.

*

She finds the wolf-god scent in a graveyard. There is no sight of the wolf-god, only a man in a black suit.

No, wait. She sniffs again, and—yes. He stinks of dog. 

The man is the wolf-god.

With a swish of her tail the fox becomes a woman, and she frowns. This is a human graveyard. What business does youkai have with the fleeting existence of humans? Why mourn?

There is no one else in the graveyard. The moon shines her teardrop light onto the earth, and the wolf-god’s hair is a reflection of the moon.

The fox-god walks up to him. She gives the gravestone a glance then looks at him. “My name is Higitsune. What is yours?"

The wolf-god’s head is lowered, but he replies. “I am Madara. I have heard of you, Higitsune. Why have you come to this place?”

“I wish for the mountain hegemony. Are you the master of the mountain?”

Madara’s red eyes flicker from their gaze at the stone. Higitsune fights the curiosity to look at the stone—it is not conducive to her goal.

“If I am?” asks the wolf-god, voice rough, and she sees a glimpse of sharp canines.

“Then we fight.” the fox-woman replies.

There is silence for a few moments.

And the wolf-god suddenly holds up a tattered notebook. Higitsune blinks at it, and sniffs.

It smells of old paper, ink, spiritual power, and humans.

“What is it?” she asks, and Madara shows her the title, written in plain script: Book of Friends. She gasps. “But this book belongs to…”

Higitsune whips around to stare at the gravestone. She only needed to read one line.

_Natsume Takashi_

Her breath leaves her in a rush. The famed Natsume.

“How short human lives are,” she says. She’s heard of Natsume and the Book of Friends, but to her, the time between then and now was barely worth acknowledging. Passed on, already?

“Indeed,” says Madara, who touches the spine of the book with a sort of reverence. The book is thin. It doesn’t look to contain many names, and for that Higitsune feels justified in her lack of drive to go after the Book. The amount of powerful youkai are only so many, what are the chances a book this thin contains any?

“Higitsune,” Madara suddenly says, and her head snaps up, wary of the tone. “Let’s duel.”

He is grinning, a slash of a smile. It does not look fetching on his human face. If Higitsune had ears, they would be flattened. She fights the fox instinct to turn and run. She’s made it this far, she’ll keep going until she dies. When she left the den, she’s decided to walk the unknown path, and follow it she will.

“If I win, you give me your name. If you win, you get the book and my name. How about it?”

The book?

Higitsune narrows her eyes. If she has the book…she has no need to gain followers. She’ll only have to beat them in duels.

Wordlessly, she nods.

With a care she rarely sees in youkai of their caliber, Madara places the book behind the gravestone. His hand lingers over the boy’s name for a moment. Then, he pushes away from the stone, leading the way into the forest.

“To the death, Higitsune. Winner takes all.”

“As you wish."


End file.
